The Visual Transitivity System in Two ELT Books Series

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the system of the visual transitivity by analyzing the images of <em>American English file </em>(2014) and <em>Cutting edge </em>(2005) series based on Halliday's (1976) systemic functional linguistics and Kress and van leuween's (1997-2006) social semiotics. The system of visual transitivity refers to a type of process which determines how represented participants are labelled, how many of them are involved, and what roles they play. As a result, two points emerged: The first point showed the usefulness of these theories in determining the fact that these images are not neutral. In the second place, the analyses of these images determined many processes (e.g., action, reaction, and symbolic) and (e.g., material, mental, and relational) which were required in representing and interpreting these images and their processes.